Hernandez prosecutor cites OJ Simpson case in judge request

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Citing the O.J. Simpson case, a prosecutor in the murder trial of former NFL star Aaron Hernandez told a judge Thursday that trophies and religious items had been added to Hernandez's home since the 2013 killing, and he requested they be removed before the jury tours the house.

The defense agreed to remove the photos, game balls and other items or to cover them before jurors see the home during a visit scheduled for Friday.

Hernandez is accused of killing Odin Lloyd in June 2013. Lloyd, a semipro football player, was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins. At the time, Hernandez had a $40 million contract with the New England Patriots.

It's the second time in a month that the court has taken up the question of whether jurors will be allowed to see trophies and other personal items in Hernandez's home, where Jenkins still lives. Last month, Bristol County Superior Court Judge Susan Garsh ruled that jurors would be allowed to see Hernandez's trophy case after his lawyer, James Sultan, argued that the house should be shown to jurors exactly the way it was at the time of Lloyd's death.

"The trial is about the truth. This is the truth of his house," Sultan said then.

But on Thursday, prosecutor Patrick Bomberg said he took a tour through the house a day earlier and discovered religious items had been added, as was memorabilia from his NFL, college and high school careers. He said it was displayed in several rooms in the house, and furniture was added to hold it.

"It's not nearly the same as it appeared back in 2013," Bomberg said.

He compared it to how Simpson's home was changed and manipulated before the jurors in his murder trial visited it. In that case, photographs and pictures were placed in the home to portray Simpson as a family man, and a Bible was placed on a table to play to jurors' religious sympathies.

Garsh said anything new would have to be covered or removed, and the defense agreed to do so.

Also Thursday, Sultan challenged police over how they handled evidence and the crime scene. North Attleborough police Capt. Joseph DiRenzo testified that a heavy rainstorm came in not long after Lloyd's body was discovered, so officers picked up shell casings, a towel, a baseball cap and a marijuana blunt so they would not get wet. Other evidence, including tire tracks, footprints and Lloyd's body, were covered.

Sultan questioned why evidence was moved instead of covered and why no one measured how far the evidence was from the body.